The Attack of the Giant Space Fungus

“Coming up!” said Miko. Miko was just serving his last customer at Cafe Kreludor and the end of a very long day. “There you go... that’ll be 700 neopoints.”

“Thanks!” the Aisha replied, handing over the neopoints to Miko. Miko was an Orange Grundo who had moved to Kreludor for adventure and instead found himself stuck in a job that he hated.

“Come again!” Miko said as the Aisha left. It had been a hectic shift, leaving Miko tired. He was really looking forward to going home and putting his feet up. As he wiped the service counter down and took off his apron he sighed, he really wished he didn’t have to work every day in this place. He kind of wished he had stayed on Neopia. Nothing ever happened on Kreludor.

He headed towards the door, fumbling with the keys to lock up for the night. He looked back into the darkness of the café and once again sighed. Just once he wished something exciting would happen to him.

Suddenly a loud crash echoes through the café causing the chairs to shake. “What was that!?” exclaimed Miko. He rushed out the door and was surprised to be confronted with a huge asteroid. Asteroids happened every now and again on Kreludor, but never had he seen one this big. “Oh my gosh!”

He stood there in shock for a while. It was meters away from the café! He could have been killed! It had definitely been a close shave. Miko breathed a sigh of relief, and decided it would be best to head home, and deal with it in the morning. That’s when he noticed it. A small pink blob lay by the side of the asteroid. Miko approached it with caution. Had it landed with the asteroid? The blob moved slightly, causing Miko to jump. But it had a face... and it was definitely moving. It looked almost cute! “Hello?” said Miko cautiously.

“Oo be dah!” gurgled the little blob, waving its two front tentacles in greeting.

“Aww, aren’t you cute?” he giggled. The blob glurgled again. “How about I take you home, hey? You look like you could do with some looking after.”

“Doo be doo!”

***

Miko walked through the front door of his home and placed the little pink blob on the sofa, upon a cushion. “Look, I’m going to go to sleep now okay? You just stay there and we’ll see what we can do about you in the morning.” Miko let out a big yawn as he headed to his bed. He couldn’t wait to get his much deserved rest after that day. He climbed into his bed and closed his eyes, and within what felt like seconds, he was asleep.

***

A loud clatter downstairs woke Miko up instantly. “Burglars?” he muttered to himself. Fighting through the wave of fright that swept over him, he slowly opened his door to listen for more signs of the intruder. He crept down his stairs slowly and tiptoed towards the living. He pushed the door ajar expecting to see a burglar, or at least somebody, but no one was there. The window was open but apart from that, nothing had been touched. Maybe he was imagining things... except... “Wait... where’s the blob?”

***

The next day Miko went to work as usual. It was easy to forget about the blob after a fire, about a thousand customers and him accidentally pouring coffee over someone. He had soon forgotten about the entire thing. That was until he finally went on his break. He sat in the employee lounge and pulled up today’s copy of the Neopian Times. “MYSTERIOUS SPACE FUNGUS ATTACKS KRELUDANS”

“What?” he exclaimed, quickly opening the paper to the report inside. “Reports of vicious attacks on Kreludans have flooded in. Victims report that they were attacked by what looked like a big pink ‘space fungus’. Seven Neopets have been injured, and have been rushed to the famous Neopian Central Hospital for treatment.”

“Space fungus? No... it couldn’t be, right?” The events of the previous night came flooding back to him. He glanced outside the café, expecting to see the asteroid... but it wasn’t there. What’s going on? What’s happening? He went over it in his mind. “Miko, are you okay?” asked Halph, his co-worker. “Um... I’ve gotta go!” he said, rushing out of the café.

He had to rush home to see if the blob was there. Was there any sign of it at all? Had he imagined the whole thing, or did it escape and start reeking havoc on Kreludor? But surely something so small couldn’t harm anyone.

In a hurry he decided to take a shortcut over the deserted surface of the Kreludan wastelands. He could save a lot of time this way and he was desperate to set the whole thing straight. He was walking very quickly and soon broke into a run. Unfortunately he didn’t see a rock underfoot, causing him to trip and crash to the ground with a gasp of pain. He slowly picked himself up and dusted himself off. His knee was grazed, but he seemed fine. He should be a lot more careful in future.

It was then he heard a slight shuffling behind him. The wastelands were normally deserted and immediately he felt a shiver shoot up his spine. He was suddenly very aware of being alone, in the middle of nowhere. He was scared. He turned around slowly and to his surprise the little pink blob stared back at him. The only thing different was that he wasn’t so little anymore. It was about a hundred times the size as it was yesterday when he found it by the asteroid. It towered over Miko. “Um... Hi...” said Miko nervously. But to Miko’s surprise, the blob responded. “Hello.”

“I’ll just... go,” Miko said, stepping backwards cautiously.

“Nnnno... I must take over... no can survive... must destroy Neopia.” As Miko stood there, he noticed the blob seemed to be growing further, pulsating and expanding as they spoke. And above the blob's eyes sat a huge boulder. The blob was absorbing anything it could get its tentacles on.

“I know. I shall take over this measly rock before I go onto Neopia. And no one can stop me.” The blob swung a tentacle at Miko, and without thinking he started running in the opposite direction. He had to warn people. He had to get help.

“You can’t stop me, you know! I WILL DESTROY THIS WORLD!”

***

A week later Miko had seen or heard nothing from the blob. No more attacks, no more anything. With each day it became more and more unnerving. He knew it was still out there. He knew it was coming. But still, nothing happened.

He had read the Neopian Times every day reading for any sign of the blob. Anything weird at all. But the closest it had to anything about gooey blobs was an article on the joys of chewing gum!

But in the darkness, on the other side of Kreludor, where no Neopet ever set foot, the blob was growing and expanding, covering more and more of the moon's surface. It was getting closer and closer to the moon’s settlements. It was closing in, and there was nothing they could do about it.

After leaving work on the eighth day, he went to head down the road he walked down to get home every day but to his surprise found a barrier and a police Chia blocking the way. “I’m sorry, but until we shift this pink goo, no one can come down here.”

“Yeah, right... if it’s such a danger, then we’ll let the defenders of Neopia sort it out,” he said with a chuckle.

Suddenly a scream pierced the bustle of the crowd around the closed road. While the guard turned around to see what it was, Miko broke through the barrier and rushed down the road. He had to help stop it.

He soon reached the pink blob. It was hard to miss, towering above them like a skyscraper, casting darkness over them. And to his surprise, there stood Judge Hog.

“Where are the rest of the defenders?” Miko asked.

“It got them! We’ve been fighting them for hours! I’m the only one left! And who are you?” he replied, breathing heavily.

“Um... I’m... Miko.”

“Right... well, whoever you are... you can help me stop THIS. Every time we attack it, it just grows more! It has no weakness! There’s nothing I can do; you need to help me!”

Judge Hog leapt at the blob but was thrown backwards from the force of the blob pulsating at him.

“WAIT! I THINK I KNOW!” Miko ran down the road to the side of the blob.

“Hey, where are you going! Come back and help me!” But Miko knew how to stop it... If only he could find its face...

“Ah... THERE YOU ARE.”

“Oh look... it’s the little Grundo. Still trying to stop me.”

“I’m not trying... I know how.”

“Oh really?” replied the blob, almost nervous.

“Yes... you absorbed your asteroid, didn’t you?” replied Miko, pointing at the blob’s head where a rock stuck out from above its eyes.

“It doesn’t matter! It’s just a rock!”

“See, I don’t think so. I think it was the first thing you absorbed, to make sure no one stopped you!”

“You’re smarter than I thought, foolish Grundo. But you still can’t stop me!” The blob swung a tentacle out at him. Miko dove away just in time.

Miko picked up a rock from the ground. He knew what he had to do. He threw it, and it struck the asteroid. But nothing happened.

“THE ASTEROID! QUICK, SHOOT IT!” he said, jumping and pointing at the rock. Judge Hog pulled out his gun and with a flash of light the asteroid exploded.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” screamed the blob as it shriveled away, freeing those trapped within it, shrinking and contracting into nothingness. It was gone. Miko had helped save Kreludor. Though he had learnt one thing. Sometimes boring isn’t too bad. Sometimes just relaxing is better than adventure!

***

Six months later, Miko was on Holiday on Mystery Island. The Defenders of Neopia had rewarded him for his bravery. He definitely preferred the beach to adventure! He lay on the beach sipping a Tigersquash Cocktail. An island Kougra lay beside him.

“Ahh this is the life,” said Miko.

“Sure is!” replied the Kougra. “Though you’ll never guess what happened the other day? It’s so exciting!”

“What?” asked Miko intrigued.

“Well, you see this asteroid hit the island! I found it outside my hut! I couldn’t believe it! And lying next to it was...”

“No... NO... NOOOOOOOOOOO!” screamed Miko, running off into the Island.